Stang remains unbeaten in win over Bourne

BOURNE — Bishop Stang's boys basketball team is a work in progress, albeit, an undefeated work in progress.

BILL ABRAMSON

BOURNE — Bishop Stang's boys basketball team is a work in progress, albeit, an undefeated work in progress.

The Spartans survived a less-than-spectacular first half, going to the locker room down 22-20. Along the way they took 17 turnovers, an 8-for-24 shooting performance and five free throws in 12 attempts into intermission after their first 16 minutes.

It was a different Stang team that emerged for the second half and overpowered Bourne, 62-54, Saturday afternoon.

"Defensively, we did a good job in the second half," Stang coach Joe Balestracci said. "We changed our defense around and started trapping them and we did better at that in the second half.

"We started getting aggressive on defense. We were lethargic in warm-ups and Bourne played very well and they out-hustled us in the first half. Then the kids woke up and started playing defense the way they're capable of playing defense, and that made a big difference."

Trailing 22-17 with 28 seconds to play in the first half, Stang scored the final three points before halftime and picked right up, scoring the first seven points of the third quarter for a 27-22 lead. After Jimmy Halliday nailed Bourne's first 3-pointer after 10 misses, Stang went on a 12-2 run for a 39-27 lead, mainly on the shooting of Aaron Roy and Kyle Farnworth.

"When we turned it around, it was Aaron Roy and Kyle Farnworth who sparked us," Balestracci said.

Farnworth made one of two from the line, and Ted Bancroft beat the buzzer to close the Strang deficit to two points at the half. Evan Dedrick drove the lane after an offensive rebound to give the Spartans their first (and only) tie at 22. Bancroft's perfect pick-and-roll basket put Stang ahead for the first time with 6:45 to go in the third period.

Roy drove the baseline and was fouled for a 3-point play, and, after Halliday's trey, Bancroft made a pair of free throws before Roy had identical 18-foot jumpers from just inside the top of the key.

Chris McNally's two free throws stopped the Stang streak, but only temporarily as Bourne went to a zone press and Farnworth answered with two driving baskets, one after breaking the press and the other on a breakaway. Ryan Early stole the ball and drove for a layup and Stang was in control.

The Spartans shot 10-for-15 from the field, hitting their only 3-point-basket attempt and made all three free throws in a 24-10 third quarter.

"It's the third game, so it's hard to see who will be the ones to go to, but Aaron and Kyle are both capable of being good offensive players," Balestracci said. "Offensively, I thought Teddy Bancroft and Peter Melanson rebounded very well for us. Teddy had 11 rebounds and Peter had 10. Peter is a sophomore and Teddy is a junior, and this is only their third varsity game."

Cody Sloniecki opened the fourth quarter for Bourne by putting back an offensive rebound to cut the Stang lead to 44-34, but Melanson outmuscled everyone underneath for a basket and Roy broke the press for an easy hoop and David Curtis followed with a score for a 50-34 lead. The only time the lead was less than 10 was at the final buzzer as Bourne scored the game's last five points in the final eight seconds.

Farnworth led Stang with 14 points, followed by Bancroft with 10 and Roy with nine. Jon Cusolito was the game's high scorer for Bourne with 16 points and John Kilfoil had 14.

Stang is now 3-0 after previous wins over non-league tournament teams Cardinal Spellman and Martha's Vineyard.

"We're glad to be 3-0, but we know we have a long way to go before we're as good as we're going to be," Balestracci pointed out.